Stylus Photo 2200

Review posted 9/5/02

The Stylus Photo 2200 - A Photographer's Dream Machine

The Stylus® Photo 2200 is the ideal printer for those wanting the same longevity in
their digital prints as conventional film prints. We all love the snappy colors and
low costs of our inkjet printers but the real truth is that those prints just aren't
going to last as long as "real photos." Epson's answer is the Stylus Photo 2200 with
the new, seven-color UltraChrome pigment-based archival inks. (At the time of this
review Epson is the only manufacturer to offer pigmented ink photo-quality printers.)
Now you can achieve the same color range, density and saturation of dye-based inks and
get superior fade resistance. Color prints made on Epson Watercolor Paper are
light fast up to 80 years and up to 44 years on Premium Luster.

The Stylus Photo 2200 is an excellent choice for serious amateur or professional
photographers and is affordably priced at $699 ($200 less than the 2000P.) The Stylus
Photo 2200 with UltraChrome ink has faster printing and drying times enabling the
printer to achieve a print speed of four minutes for an 8" x 10" photograph on glossy
paper - that's three times faster than the Stylus Photo 2000P. Speed and connectivity
is ensured with high-speed USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interfaces as well as a
bi-directional IEEE 1284 parallel port.

The printer's resolution of up to 2880 x 1440 dpi comes from ultra small 4-picoliter
droplets, which produces an equivalent dot size to a two-picoliter dye-based droplet.
Epson's exclusive Micro Piezo ink jet technology creates incredible detail, beautiful
skin tones and an ultra-wide color range that is ideal for all types of photography.
The interchangeable black inks allow users to choose between the printer's standard
Photo Black cartridge and an optional Matte Black cartridge. With a large printable
area it can handle from 4" x 6" up to 13" x 44" cut sheet papers with ease. It also
features 4", 8.3" and 13" edge-to-edge borderless printing on roll paper. A roll paper
holder, an automatic cutter assembly and a print catcher basket is included.

A variety of glossy and matte papers are compatible with the Stylus Photo 2200,
including Epson's Premium Semigloss Photo Paper, Premium Luster Photo Paper, Premium
Glossy Photo Paper, Watercolor Paper and Enhanced Matte (formerly named Archival
Matte) Paper. The newest paper that is available is Epson's Velvet Fine Art paper.
This new paper is a 100 percent cotton, acid free paper and is available in both
Letter and Super B (13" x 19") sheets. Thicker media is easily accommodated by the
manual paper feed and its straight-through paper path.

The Stylus Photo 2200 includes EPSON Software Film Factory with PRINT Image Matching support.
PRINT Image Matching technology (P.I.M.), which Epson announced in February 2001,
ensures that P.I.M.-enabled digital cameras and P.I.M.-enabled printers work perfectly
together to create the best possible prints. Included in the software bundle is a
PIM file plug-in for Photoshop 6, 7 and Photoshop Elements 1, 2.

Epson PRINT Image Matching (PIM) technology ensures that digital
cameras and Epson printers work together to produce the best possible prints

USB 2.0, FireWire (IEEE 1394), and Parallel connectivity

Light fastness rating of up to 80 years on Watercolor and other Fine Art
papers. 44 years on Premium Luster, Glossy and Semigloss media are currently
being evaluated by Wilhelm Imaging Research.

It comes in a rather large box! You'll find everything you need in there
except for a connecting cable. Can someone please tell me why they can't
include at least a standard $2 USB cable with these printers? Not a problem for
us "city folk" but for those out in the country it could be a real pain
to have to order and then wait for the UPS man to deliver a cable. If you don't have
the necessary USB or FireWire cable then be sure to order one -with- your printer.

In front of the ink cartridges is a line of red LED indicators that are visible when
the top is closed. When an ink tank runs out the corresponding red LED lights up. The
ink levels are constantly monitored and you will get a software popup warning when the
ink is getting low, the red LED tells you that it's now empty. We'll cover this in
more detail when we explain the software driver options.

The interchangeable black inks allow you to choose between the printer's standard
Photo Black cartridge and an optional Matte Black cartridge. The Photo Black ink
supports any type of paper, the Matte Black ink supports matte paper only. The
printer "knows" which ink is installed and automatically limits your choice of
media types in the driver software.

The Matte Black yields higher density and contrast on matte papers and is ideal
for matte fine art photography. It also produces superior B&W prints on matte paper.

And here's how the printer "knows" which ink cartridges are in the printer and exactly
how much ink is left in them. There are tiny little electronic chips on the edge of
each ink tank. This allows you to swap any cartridge at any time and then put it back
in the printer later. These IntellidgeTM cartridges
actually count each ink droplet used to keep track of the ink remaining.

Compatible with both Windows and Macintosh platforms, the Stylus 2200 features
built-in IEEE 1284 bi-directional parallel and high speed USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394
FireWire ports.

Epson's Velvet Fine Art, canvas and other "thick" fine art papers
can be fed straight through thanks to the manual paper feed in the rear.
The manual paper path supports a variety of media up to 1.3 mm in thickness.

Here's the roll paper holders mounted on the back of the printer. Shown here with
a 4-inch roll of photo paper. The printer handles 4", 8.3" and 13" width roll paper
stock for edge-to-edge borderless printing. The roll paper is fed into the manual
feed paper path which automatically pulls the paper up to the start point. You push
and hold the roll paper feed button to make it "back out" the roll paper when you're
done.

The automatic cutter assembly and print "catcher" basket mount on the front of the
printer. It's an easy and fairly quick change from cut sheet to roll printing. You do
need to go into the printer driver and properly adjust the cutter and select the
desired cut option (auto, paper-saving or manual cut.) The manual cut function is
enabled by a button on the front of the printer. The cutter even has a built in
cleaning function to keep things moving smoothly.

I can't recommend the use of the 4" wide roll paper as these prints never seem to
sit flat again. These prints here were under a heavy book for three days and yet
still retain almost as much curve as when first printed. The roll paper is nice for
making wall-size panoramas but for borderless 4x6" prints, stick with the cut sheets.

Light fastness rating of 80 years based on accelerated testing of prints on specialty media, displayed indoors, under glass. Actual print stability will vary according to image, display conditions, light intensity, humidity and atmospheric conditions. EPSON does not guarantee longevity of the prints. For maximum print life, display all prints under glass or lamination or properly store them.